IMR Press / FBL / Volume 6 / Issue 3 / DOI: 10.2741/filetici

Frontiers in Bioscience-Landmark (FBL) is published by IMR Press from Volume 26 Issue 5 (2021). Previous articles were published by another publisher on a subscription basis, and they are hosted by IMR Press on imrpress.com as a courtesy and upon agreement with Frontiers in Bioscience.

Article
The bromodomain: a chromatin browser?
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1 Centro Acidi Nucleici CNR, Università "La Sapienza", P.le A.Moro 5,00185 Roma, Italy
2 Dipartimento di Genetica e Biologia Molecolare, Università “La Sapienza”, P.le A.Moro 5,00185 Roma, Italy
Front. Biosci. (Landmark Ed) 2001, 6(3), 866–876; https://doi.org/10.2741/filetici
Published: 1 August 2001
Abstract

Reversible modification of histone tails is a regulatory step in chromatin remodeling. The N-terminal tails of histones are signaling platforms that carry amino acid residues for post-translational modification and contribute to chromosomal higher order structure. These modifications are performed by a number of chromatin modulators such as histone (h) acetyltransferase, h-deacetylase, h-methyltransferase and h-kinase. Large numbers of these enzymes as well as other chromatin-associated proteins share the bromodomain, a signature protein motif. Structural studies reveal not only wide structural conservation of bromodomains but also envision a possible role of this domain in the recognition of specific modified residues in the histone tails. The widespread presence of bromodomains in leukemogenic and cancer genes has provided a fundamental tool for studies of the role of epigenetic and chromatin remodeling in malignant diseases.

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